When you’re lucky enough to live in Marbella, you’re one of the lucky ones who gets nearly year-round sunshine -it’s not called the Costa del Sol for a nothing! Sometimes, though, the beautiful Spanish sunshine can get overwhelming and keeping your house cool is a real priority. When that happens, air conditioning is an easy as well as an effective solution, but one that many quickly dismiss due to fear of higher electricity usage and high energy bills, but you needn’t worry. Even with the infamously high costs of electricity in Spain, having air conditioning can still be an economical way to keep your home cool, even during the peak of summer. Here’s how to do it:
Use your air conditioning alongside a humidifier. When the cool air coming from your air conditioning unit hits the moist air emitted from a home humidifier, the whole room cools down faster and stays cooler longer, meaning you can use your air conditioning less and save money without sacrificing your comfort level. Better still, home humidifiers are small so they take up very little space (perfect for small holiday homes) and are an inexpensive investment to keep you and home cool this summer. And when used with a few drops of essential oils, you can have a beautifully-perfumed home, too!
Use a fan in combination with your air conditioning, but only if your room is large. Unless you’re trying to cool down a large room with poor air flow, using fans in combination with air conditioning will only use more electricity and provide minimal results, costing you more overall. Instead, cool an entire room more economically by turning your air conditioning on high for a few minutes at first then adjust it to room temperature to maintain the overall room comfort for an extended period of time.
Keep your air conditioning unit filters clean. Maintenance on your air conditioning units should be done at least once a year, even if it’s in apparently good working order. The small cost of calling out an air conditioning technician to give your air conditioning units a quick look over for any potential issues and cleaning the filters will make it more effective, costing you less to run as the weather gets warmer.
Close window blinds during the heat of the day. If your air conditioning is switched on, try to close as many window blinds or curtains at the same time so that the bright Spanish sun coming through the windows doesn’t counteract your air conditioning’s hard work. And although it’s not always desirable or practical to do this all day, closing your window blinds just during the hottest part of the day (generally 2pm to 6pm) can make a big difference in how cool your home is overall and thus lowering the amount of time your air conditioning needs to be in use.
Rearrange your furniture. As silly as it sounds, designing your home with air flow in mind can make a big difference in the effectiveness of your air conditioning. In general, this means installing your air conditioning units away from windows where cool air can easily escape and moving large, bulkier furniture away from where cool air from your air conditioning comes out so it has the chance to move freely around the room, keeping the overall temperature down).
Turn off your air conditioning at when you’re not at home. Although an obvious tip, remembering to turn off your air conditioning before leaving home is an easy way to dramatically cut electricity costs. Similarly, it can take some time to cool down a home or even just a room, so don’t switch on the AC if you’ll only be there for a short time.
Whether you have a permanent or holiday home on the Costa del Sol, during the spring, summer, and even into the autumn months, air conditioning can be one of the best investments you make, but only if you’re not afraid to use it! Give the air conditioning experts at Cool Services a call to discuss your wants, needs, and concerns and let us help find the best solution for keeping you cool and comfortable at home, no matter how hot it gets outside. We provide free in-home consultations to determine what’s right for you and can advise on and install the most economical single, multiple, or ducted air conditioning units to meet your individual requirements. Our technicians can also provide on-site maintenance to keep your unit running in perfect condition, saving you unnecessary energy costs and potentially expensive repairs down the line and, as qualified engineers that are F-Gas certified, all Cool Services’ work meets the legal requirements to maintain your air conditioning warranty, so you don’t have to worry about out-of-pocket repair or replacement costs down the line.
For homes from Sotogrande to Benalmadena, Cool Services is here to help you stay cool and save you money. Contact us today for personalised attention to learn how.
